The need to adapt keeps us in sync with the world that keeps turning. Without innovation, we would still be plagued by polio and rushing to find a cure for it in a horse-drawn carriage! 2017 ushers in some ground-breaking advancements in science that shall change our lives for the better. Some are in the field of medical science, while some just wish to make life easier with machine-based automation! It truly is riveting to wonder how this might also make life expectancy longer, global currency more uniform and the cost of living in any given nation cheaper! So, let us have a look at those 10 major breakthroughs in technology in 2017 that shall be life-changing:
1 The Reversal of Paralysis
Even though we might be almost a decade away from a possibility where even the most fatal accidents and the resultant paralysis that many unfortunate victims suffer from can be overcome, Neuroscientist Dr. Gregoire Courtine and his team have planted the seeds for that possibility to become reality with an experiment. An injured macaque had a recording device planted underneath its motor cortex and electrodes sutured around the animal’s spinal cord, where the injury occurred. A wireless connection catered the two electronic devices. As a result, once the system came alive, it read the monkey’s intention and allowed it’s so-far vegetative limbs to allow it to move about! Courtine, a professor with Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne looks to end the heartbreak of many with further experiments being done on rats.
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2 Self-Driving trucks
We are already aware that renewable, less-detrimental sources of fueling cars is underway. In less than a decade, we might also have automobiles that redefine the role of the ‘auto’ prefix. Otto, among many other renowned companies are investing heavily on self-automated trucks and such. This looks to end the morbid affair of vesting the control of a 16-wheel monster-machine from plying down the road and possibly being a bigger danger to those it runs into, should the driver lose focus. What remains to be seen is if coding and sensors can replace the occupation of millions of truck drivers worldwide and if electronics is a better master than experience.
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3 Face-currency
You may be familiar with the phrase “moneymaker”, being used to describe the visage of a person who earns with the help of their facial attributes. Facial recognition is not a mystery waiting to be fathomed, but is something in application now. With the initiation by China, your face might soon be used as a means of validation payments, provide access to facilities and such. Facial recognition is more commonly used in smart-devices and laptops, but China’s Face++, a booming start-up has introduced the novel idea of having one’s face take the literal meaning of the word ‘identity’. Their software is also used in public services, to track individuals, to provide public the right to information on a public servant among others.
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